I really don't know how the "our past is history" thing is relevant given the lenses they have announced. That being said, the 12mm f/2 has a lot of potential because it is relatively short (50-59mm depending on lens mount) and that it has a front element that allows the use of filters. Sounds like a very good option for a light landscape lens. What I'm wondering about is the distortion.

I really don't understand them coming out with a 10mm and 12mm? It seems like they are so close in focal length/characteristics. Also why so many for smaller sensors? Must be where the bread and butter is.

JohnBrose wrote:
I really don't understand them coming out with a 10mm and 12mm? It seems like they are so close in focal length/characteristics. Also why so many for smaller sensors? Must be where the bread and butter is. 10mm if for DSLR, 12mm is for mirrorless. I for one am happy that they are releasing APS-C lenses. APS-C lenses also allows them to release for a lot more brands than full frame. For DSLR' they can release the same lens for Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Sony. For mirrorless, they can release the same lens for Sony E-mount, Fuji X, Samsung, and micro-four . They also already have a lot of fullframe lenses.

The 10mm also comes in mirrorless mounts. Same thing with a bolted adapter by the looks of it, but very cheap for the FOV and reasonable size. And who cares about AF, at 10mm the problem is to get something out of focus, not the opposite...

Yes, the 10mm comes in mirrorless mount but it was not developed for mirrorless specifically. It's a DSLR lens with an integrated adapter basically. The length difference between the is pretty large because of that (59mm for the 12mm and 105mm for the 10mm)

10mm is dead on arrival at that price point. You can get the Tokina at that price and get auto-focus, auto-aperture, lens profiles, and an optically proven lens. Oh, and you can use filters and get 11-16mm.

Ridiculous! The Sony E-mount and electronic communication is supposed to be open and royalty free but Samyang still can't build an autofocus lens for it?

Damn! The price is quite good for under $400 for a FF 35mm f/1.4 lens but I wonder if having an autofocus motor and electronic aperture linkage would have raised the production price by more than $50.

There are currently no pictures for the FE mount Samyangs on B&H but $450 - $500 for a small form factor AF 24mm & 35mm f/1.4 with the respectable optical quality of Samyang's recent fast primes would be a real deal and a great game changer for Sony's FF mirrorless line.

Its a shame that Samyang in 2014 only wants to sell fine optics in dumb barrels.

Fred Miranda wrote:
Samyang announced March 25th availability for many lenses. There is a new 12mm f/2.0 and the release of a previously announced 10mm f/2.8. Both were both designed for the APS-C sensor.

For the Sony A7 and A7R, they released the 24mm f/1.4 and 35mm f/1.4 for the full frame E-mount. For the APS-C E-mount, there is a new 8mm T3.1 Cine FishEye II and 8mm f/2.8 FishEye.

HopeIsEternal wrote:
Ridiculous! The Sony E-mount and electronic communication is supposed to be open and royalty free but Samyang still can't build an autofocus lens for it?

Damn! The price is quite good for under $400 for a FF 35mm f/1.4 lens but I wonder if having an autofocus motor and electronic aperture linkage would have raised the production price by more than $50.

There are currently no pictures for the FE mount Samyangs on B&H but $450 - $500 for a small form factor AF 24mm & 35mm f/1.4 with the respectable optical quality of Samyang's recent fast primes would be a real deal and a great game changer for Sony's FF mirrorless line.

Its a shame that Samyang in 2014 only wants to sell fine optics in dumb barrels.

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Samyang probably makes money off of volume. They can just slap a new lens mount and their R&D becomes more profitable. Adding autofocus would definitely limit their ability to do that while adding costs. I think it's a good business model, especially given that their lenses are good. I'm curious as to how they will deal with the new mirrorless trend and if they will release smaller MF lenses in different focal length (35mm, 50mm, and so on). If they could release lenses that compete with rangefinder lenses in terms of size with the usual Samyang quality, I'm sure they could have a steady market.